Courageous Advocacy: How God's People Speak Up for the Voiceless

EQUiP - Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down - Session 5

Courageous Advocacy: How God's People Speak Up for the Voiceless

Not everyone is called to adopt and not every orphan is available for adoption. Still, because of God’s mercy and His demonstration of adoptive love, we are called to care for orphans. We are all called to imitate God.

You may find the following categories worth pursuing as you discover how God might be enlisting you to leverage your ordinary life for orphan care.

CARE FOR THE POOR: In the developing world, poverty leads to orphans. When parents can’t meet the basic needs of their children, they are forced to give them up. Investing your time and resources toward relief and development is a great way to care for orphans.

INVEST IN ORPHANAGES: Many orphans cannot be adopted. Churches and individual believers can support orphanages and orphanage workers to elevate and influence the care the orphans receive.

PROMOTE IN-COUNTRY ADOPTION: Americans adopt internationally more than every other country combined. Educating and empowering local leaders to create a culture of adoption indigenously can dramatically aid in orphan care. When political leaders use orphans as a power play, children suffer. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Americans have adopted over 60,000 Russian orphans. There are nearly 120,000 children in Russia in need of adoption, but politics has closed the door. You can research and support initiatives that help local people adopt so that a country takes measures to correct the problem on its own.

SUPPORT ADOPTION: Many people work very hard for years to fund raise and save enough money to complete expensive adoption efforts. The emotional toll this journey takes is significant. You can financially, emotionally, and prayerfully support someone who is answering the call to adopt.

TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE: Children who are never adopted eventually age out of orphanages with no place to go. You and your church can build a strong relationship with an orphanage and develop a program for where kids go upon release. You can help sponsor education so that orphans are less likely to fall victim to trafficking and crime. You can sponsor education so that orphans can study and develop life skills for the work force. If you invest in an orphan now, your impact can continue when they age out.

Orphan care can seem like an insurmountable task. As you consider the role you play, read Matthew 21:18-22 to be reminded of what Jesus says about such tasks.

Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

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